In a television universe ruled by the key 18-to-49 demographic by which advertising rates are set, the new CBS legal drama television series Matlock, which stars 76-year-old actress Kathy Bates, is defying the laws of gravity, at least judging by how the shows premiere episode attracted the largest series premiere audience for CBS in more than five years. In Matlock, Bates plays Madeline Matlock, a supposedly inexperienced and widowed ex-lawyer who happens to share a last name with famed fictional criminal defense lawyer Ben Matlock, played by Andy Griffith in the original Matlock television series, which aired from 1986 to 1992 on NBC, and then from 1992 to 1995 on ABC.